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Izuku sits in the announcer’s booth with excitement buzzing through his veins as he watches the first year classes walk out onto the field. He remembers a time before the Commission, though vaguely, of watching the Sports Festival with his mother. Sitting on her lap and bouncing in excitement as they cheered for the students.
He’d also watched the most recent ones not long ago, to see what he’d missed out on now that he’s older. Part of him had watched like it was another test, breaking down quirks, finding weaknesses and studying ways to exploit the various students, but it was a small part and he was thankfully able to push it to the back of his mind. He doubts that part of him will ever truly go away, but he can always hope.
Izuku chirps excitedly as he spots Hitoshi on one of the many monitors displayed in front of Aizawa and Yamada, each synced to a different drone. The teen looks nervous, glancing around at all the spectators, even if it’s just heroes, family members and the press.
As Yamada goes through his spiel as he introduces each class, Midnight comes out onto the field to act as the MC for the event dressed in her hero costume. She quickly announces the first event: an obstacle course and Izuku feels his wings twitch as one of the drones does a quick fly over of the course for the announcer’s booth and for later when they release the edited version of the festival. He’d love to run the course though he knows he can’t. Maybe he should suggest more obstacle course style training to Keigo for the hero students so Izuku can participate.
The students all gather in a crowd and Izuku can already see their first mistakes, noting how narrow the entrance to the course is compared to the size of the crowd and winces as the horn blares and they take off, smashing into each other and shoving to get ahead.
“Is it always this chaotic from the get go?” Izuku signs to Aizawa who has mainly been silent as Yamada commentates on the race.
Aizawa huff softly, his mic thankfully off, and nods before turning back to continue watching his students. Izuku flicks his gaze from one screen to the next, searching and eventually finding his brother’s purple hair. Hitoshi has already managed to make it through the tunnel and is in the middle of dodging robots. If only his flock mate had wings, this course would be so easy. Maybe he should see about getting Hitoshi a jet pack or something so he can fly too. Then they could all fly together.
He watches the front runners already passed the robots and making it to the giant chasm dug into the ground. Izuku wanders how Powerloader managed to make it without the pillars becoming unstable. Maybe he and Cementoss worked together? It’s hard to tell how the obstacle is constructed with the chasm being too deep and the drones aren’t looking down much.
People start to cross the thick metal wires strung across it. He watches as one girl loses her grip and falls a good fifteen feet before splatting into what Izuku quickly realizes is mud. His wings twitch at the thought of having to clean them after getting mud on them. He’s had to before. It sucks so much and makes his wings itch for days afterwards if he misses even the smallest bit.
Izuku finally sees Hitoshi at the chasm, still keeping a decent lead, but not trying to go for first place. That’s probably the best strategy. No doubt the next event will put a big target on the top five of this challenge, so better to avoid that for now. He also watches as a pink haired girl throws herself off the side only for what he realizes is support gear to propel her up and across to the next pillar. He takes note of her jet pack and makes a mental note to talk with her about maybe getting one for Hitoshi…maybe a birthday present?
The Support girl makes it across and soon after, Hitoshi does before the teen goes sprinting. Izuku turns to another screen to see the front runners have slowed down because of the minefield and watches as a boy takes a few steps out onto the field only to trip a mine and have pink explode around him. Oh, trap obstacle courses, Izuku decides on. That would certainly be good training for their problem solving abilities, team work and flexibility. He’s definitely running that by Keigo. He’ll love it.
Hitoshi finally comes into the picture right around the time the first place runner, Todoroki, makes it across the finish line, followed closely by Bakugō, the teen glowering on the screen at coming in second place. More quickly follow and Hitoshi finally comes in at sixteenth with a bright grin on his face. Uraraka, who’d gotten in a few people ahead of Hitoshi runs over and gives him a high five, fists pumping in her excitement.
Eventually, the last student crosses the finish line before the event is called and they quickly move onto the next event. Midnight announces it with a sharp grin and a crack of her whip: Calvary Battle. Yamada loudly explains how the event will work, point values and the various rules before Midnight cracks her whip again to start the fifteen minute time limit to form teams and strategize.
“Is this a normal thing at Sports Festivals?” Izuku signs to Aizawa, confused about how someone came up with this exercise.
“Yeah, for the most part. It can vary from region to region, but the premise is a teambuilding exercise that focuses on teamwork and using their quirks in conjunction with each other or in unique ways to thwart the other teams without hurting people. This is an event where people with support quirks, mental quirks and non-offensive quirks are much more sought after than those with offensive quirks. So it lets them show off,” Aizawa explains.
“Oh,” Izuku signs back, getting it. “It’s a strategy event. It forces people to be more observant of the other students to know what kinds of quirks they can draw from and then figure out whether they’ll compliment or hinder your own quirk. That’s pretty smart,” he signs with a grin.
“Who would you have chosen for a team?” Aizawa asks.
“Hitoshi, Uraraka and that Support girl with the pink hair. Uraraka to make the others weightless, the Support girl for her gear, my wings and Hitoshi for ranged attacks with his quirk if need be. We’d simply stay in the sky and pick off headbands as we fly by while invisible,” Izuku signs with a grin.
Aizawa nods back in approval before turning back as the time finishes counting down. Izuku notes Hitoshi’s group and hoots happily, seeing Hitoshi had a similar thought process as he’s got Uraraka, Tokoyami and the Support girl grouped around him.
The timer sounds and the groups spread to the edges of the field. Hitoshi is riding while Tokoyami takes the front and the two girls on either side. Midnight cracks her whip again and the groups quickly take off aiming right for Todoroki’s team with Bakugō at the head of the charge, still angry for coming in second.
It’s chaos all over again, but in a different way as most of the teams focus on Todoroki and Bakugō as the two highest point counts. He quickly notices the student’s from 1-B’s plan as they start to pick off of the smaller teams, going for quantity over quality.
Hitoshi and his group follow a similar approach with Dark Shadow snagging headbands while the team harries the opposite team to distract them, or Hitoshi subtly brainwashing them to hand over their headbands. Izuku watches the score board as the teams lose points or rise in the ranks until Hitoshi manages to get into fifth. It finally comes to a head as Hitoshi team comes into conflict with one of the 1-B teams and manages to snag most of their headbands which drops that team down and bumps theirs up into fourth place right as the timer runs out.
As the points are counted, it shows Team Todoroki hadn’t managed to keep hold of the ten million points, but had managed to snag Bakugō’s original headband and came in second with Team Bakugō in first. Team Monoma manages to come in third and Team Hitoshi in fourth rounds out the final contestants.
Lunch is called and Izuku stands excitedly, waving to the two pros in the booth before he goes invisible and leaves to find Keigo and Hitoshi. Keigo’s just coming in from his patrol around the event and Izuku notices the number of feathers missing from his wings, no doubt placed strategically to give him advance warning should something happen today.
Izuku hoots and Keigo’s eyes unerringly find him, even invisible. “Hey fledgling, having fun?” he asks with a grin and Izuku chirps yes before asking where Hitoshi is. “He’s coming. I saw him talking with a few of his classmates. He knows where to meet us so let’s head over to our usual spot,” Keigo says and Izuku nods, following behind the winged hero.
Hitoshi arrives a few minutes later after extracting himself from his classmates and waves at Keigo. “Hey chick, hungry?” Keigo asks.
“Please,” Hitoshi whines and Izuku hoots right behind him, making him jump slightly. “Yes, yes, very funny,” he grumbles. Izuku follows Hitoshi to one of the more secluded sections of the main school as Keigo flies ahead to grab their lunches “Hey, do you want Koda to eat with us? I told Uraraka she could, but I’m sure he’d like to join,” Hitoshi offers.
Inside the halls, Izuku allows his invisibility to drop and signs, “He’s eating with his family.”
“Okay,” Hitoshi says and they look up to see Uraraka already waiting where they usually eat. “Shinso-san, Midoriya-san, hi,” she greets with a wave.
“Hi, Uraraka-san,” Hitoshi calls back, Izuku waving as they enter the room to wait for Keigo to arrive. He does a few minutes later.
“Sorry chicks, I got delayed by All Might asking me a question,” Keigo apologizes. He sets the stack of bentos on the table and settles in a chair as Izuku and Hitoshi start to unpack it. “You two did excellent out there by the way,” he adds with a wink. “We’ll make heroes of you both yet.”
Uraraka blushes at the compliment. “Thank you. I’m going to try my hardest,” she says with a determined nod.
“That’s all we ask,” Keigo says as he starts to hand out drinks.
They eat and talk, Izuku awkwardly signing around his chopsticks, explaining rapidly through sign his bird’s eye view of the whole thing and how Hitoshi basically came up with the same strategy he would have gone with for the Calvary Battle. He also mentions the trapped obstacle course idea to Keigo who grins excitedly, looking like he really likes the idea and Hitoshi groans, flopping over in feigned despair.
Eventually, they have to go back: Keigo to keeping watch, Hitoshi and Uraraka to the field for the next part of the competition and Izuku to the announcer’s booth. They clean up their mess before Keigo shoos them off and Izuku walks Hitoshi and Uraraka to the area near where 1-A is gathered before wandering off. It’s just the recreational games next after they pull names for the bracket for the tournament so he decides to wander a bit while hidden.
He’s passing by the press section of the stadium and pauses at the heated whispers he picks up. “Mojima, you know you’re not supposed to be doing this. The moment you release any of this video footage, U.A. is going to come down on you and the news station with a wave of lawsuits. You were warned what would happen if you broke U.A.’s new policy,” a woman whispers heatedly.
“You worry too much, Kaede,” the man who must be Mojima whispers back. “If we say someone gave it to use anonymously, how will they ever know it was us,” he adds with a smugness like he’s figured out the answer to his problems.
Izuku walks silently down the stairs of the press seating and looks for the source of the voices and finds a man with slicked back grey hair supporting a camera on a tripod as if he’s taking pictures, but Izuku can just make out the wires for a hidden camera snaking down one of the legs of the device. He can’t see the camera itself, but he assumes it’s hidden in the larger camera’s outer casing. The woman, Kaede, lets out an annoyed huff and looks away, pulling up her own camera to snaps some shots of the recreational games that have started up.
Izuku steps away and pulls out his phone which he can see under his aura and shoots off a text to both Keigo and Nedzu about Mojima filming the event, snapping a quick photo of him. They send back thanks for the heads up and he tucks his phone away before making his way slowly up to the announcer’s booth. Aizawa and Yamada are relaxing and drinking some tea while they wait for the games to be over with so Izuku joins them, dropping his invisibility and chatting with the two about what was coming next for the students after the festival.
The hour of games quickly comes to an end and they get back to the main part of the festival. Izuku, on a whim, decides to wander some more. He really wants to watch the fights from the ground level, so he starts to head that way. He makes his way to where 1-A’s waiting rooms are situated and slips in before dropping his invisibility.
“Midoriya-kun,” Uraraka says excitedly and the few faces in the room look his way.
“Hi,” he signs with a smile. “I just wanted to tell everyone good luck.”
“I don’t need luck,” Bakugō huffs out when Uraraka explains what he signed.
“As if, Bakugō. Like we’re going to just let you get an easy win, that’s not manly at all,” Kirishima calls out with a sharp grin.
“I’d like to see you try and stand up to me, Shitty Hair,” Bakugō calls back.
“You’ve got to get through me first, Bakugō-kun,” Uraraka says with a determined look.
“Whatever, Round Face. I’m not going easy on you just because you’re a girl,” he warns.
“I won’t go easy on you just because you’re an ass,” Uraraka shoots back and the blonde glares, but a grin still cracks his face, fists clinched.
“Root for me,” Hitoshi says to Izuku and the winged teen nods excitedly.
“Do you want to strategize?” he signs.
“Nah, not this time, but definitely later,” Hitoshi waves off and Izuku nods in understanding. Waving one last time, Izuku goes invisible again. Taking to the air, he finds a good perch with a good view and waits for the first match to start.
He doesn’t have long to wait once Cementoss finishes building the field. Midnight calls the first match, Bakugō versus Uraraka and Izuku perks up. The two go head on like a pair of wrecking balls, but Izuku very quickly notices Uraraka’s strategy, watching more and more debris float up above the dust and smoke thrown up by Bakugō’s explosions.
It won’t work. Izuku’s seen Katsuki’s quirk control and reflexes in training. The explosive teen is good at adapting to sudden surprises. He has to applaud her for coming up with such a smart plan though. If the blonde teen were any less skilled, it would have worked. He watches silently as Uraraka collapses and is then carted off the field by a pair of medic bots.
The next match up after Cementoss repairs the field, is between a 1-B student named Honenuki against Ashido. It honestly doesn’t last long, the B student quickly turning the field into a quagmire and trapping Ashido’s feet in the muck. The boy quickly hardens it and traps the girl from the waist down. She starts trying to eat away at the concrete with her acid, but it’s slow going and the other boy darts forward, landing a heavy kick on her temple that knocks her out and the match is called. Honenuki softens the ground to let them pull the girl free and she’s carted off to Recovery Girl’s office.
Tokoyami and Yaoyorozu are next after the field is repaired again from the little damage it took. Izuku has been fascinated by Yaoyorozu’s quirk for a while now. It has so many applications and uses in many fields of work. Izuku is surprised the old HPSC didn’t try to snatch her up for their training program. She would have been a hell of an asset. He can only guess it was her family’s status, money and connections that protected her from their reach.
Unfortunately, versatile her quirk maybe, but the girl still has trouble with snap decisions. Izuku had that trained out of him the hard way. Hesitation will get you killed in the field. Izuku very much prefers U.A.’s methods of training to the HPSC’s. He wouldn’t wish that on anyone.
He watches Dark Shadow slam the girl over and over in quick succession. The shadow quirked boy is smart. Overwhelm and take her out as quickly as possible with the least amount of effort. He doesn’t even have to move with Dark Shadow’s range. He does notice the one moment of hesitation from Dark Shadow when the metal shield Yaoyorozu creates reflects the light before it barrels into her and knocks her back completely over the line. It would make sense. Dark Shadow is made of shadow, thus light would affect it negatively. He wonders how much it does.
The next match is Iida versus the Support girl that teamed up with Hitoshi. Her name is Hatsume Mei and Izuku very much enjoys their match as the girl determinedly demonstrates every one of her support devices before she allows Iida to win, willingly stepping out of bounds.
Next is another B student named Tetsutetsu against Kirishima and it’s like two peas in a pod with how similar their quirks are. They both end up knocking each other out. Midnight announces a tie breaker once they wake up and moves onto the next match.
Hitoshi is called up next and Izuku perks up, sitting forward eagerly. He knows some about Monoma’s quirk, having worked with 1-B quite a bit as well. The haughty boy had actually managed to copy part of Izuku’s quirk, the invisibility spreading out to hide him, but hadn’t been able to grow Izuku’s wings. He’d explained it as some mutations being too much of a strain on his body to grow.
Which is understandable. Growing whole new limbs in a short amount of time only to undo that growth a few minutes later once he lost the copied quirk wouldn’t make sense in the grand scheme of things. Too much energy put into something for not enough gain. Every quirk has its limitations.
The fight happens quickly, Hitoshi going all out. He doesn’t even use his quirk to take Monoma out. Even with Keigo teaching quirkless fighting to all the hero students, it’s obvious Hitoshi has more experience than Monoma from the get go. Hitoshi ends up knocking the blonde teen out with a sharp right hook to his chin. Monoma never even gets to use Hitoshi’s quirk against him despite having managed to copy it.
After the two leave the field, one carried off, the next match up is called. Kaminari and Kendo, also from 1-B, take the field. It happens quickly and Izuku winces for both of them. Keigo’s been trying to teach them to not throw everything into the fight right at the get go, but it seems in his excitement, Kaminari forgets the man’s lessons.
He lets go his strongest attack all at once against Kendo. The girl is unable to dodge it or counter it and goes down quickly. However, Kaminari knocks himself stupid after short-circuiting his brain. Midnight calls the draw and calls another deciding match for when they wake up.
The last match is Sero versus Todoroki. Sero tries valiantly to take Todoroki out in a surprise move. It’s a good strategy and if Todoroki weren’t so quick to react, it would have worked. The teen is however that good and the resulting glacier has Izuku blinking not only at the power, but the excessive force used.
He’s listened many a night as Keigo grumbled about Todoroki refusing to use his fire despite Keigo trying to encourage him to do so. The boy refuses to explain why and Keigo can’t force him to use his quirk if he doesn’t want to. Aizawa has offered to give him a ‘death’ and Izuku is of the idea that that might be best for the teen. This reliance on just half his quirk isn’t healthy or logical.
Obviously there’s some reason behind him not wanting to use his fire. He watches as Todoroki works to free Sero from the ice and makes a snap decision, leaving his perch to fly down towards the field. Slipping into the tunnel that leads to 1-A’s waiting area; Izuku keeps to the side and lies in wait for the teen.
He doesn’t have too long to wait before the boy finishes extracting Sero from the ice and starts to make his way back to the waiting area. Izuku trails silently behind him. He plans to speak with him once he’s in the waiting room, but that plan is dashed as the heat suddenly increases in the hall and Endeavor steps out of a stairwell, right in their path.
Izuku hangs back to watch as Todoroki stops in his tracks, the boy tense. If Izuku would have to guess, the boy looks wary like prey before a predator, but defiant as well. “You didn’t use your fire,” Endeavor says tersely, arms crossed over his chest as the flames wreathing his body cast dancing shadows around the tunnel.
“Why would I?” Todoroki says back tonelessly.
“You will quit this foolish tantrum of yours at once. You will have to use your fire eventually. You can’t rely on her ice forever. Sooner or later, you will hit a wall and you will have to use it then,” Endeavor growls out impatiently. “This rebellion of yours will only make you look weak. No creation of mine will be weak. You have a duty to surpass All Might and you can only achieve that with both sides of your quirk.”
Izuku frowns at the man’s words. Creation, not son. Why does that sound like the HPSC when they trained him? ‘Mirage, you will complete the test laid before you or there will be consequences. We own you. We created you. You will do as you are told and stop this foolish rebellion. It will only hurt you in the long run and we can always replace you.’ Izuku has to fight to keep from letting a screech of rage escape his throat. Thankfully he holds onto his invisibility.
“I refuse to use my fire. I will win this with her ice only,” Todoroki says with a hint of rage and spite in his voice before he stalks past Endeavor without a backward glance.
Izuku hangs back and decides that perhaps now is not the time to talk with Todoroki. Not after this confrontation. The teen is angry and anything he tries to say about using his quirk fully would be ignored completely out of spite.
With a sigh and swirling emotions, Izuku heads back towards the announcer booth. Some of the fun has been taken from watching the festival and he really needs somewhere a little quieter to reflect on what he overheard.
Aizawa and Yamada barely glance at him as he enters the room and drops his invisibility. Izuku watches dispassionately as Bakugō beats Honenuki and Tokoyami beats Iida. Kirishima manages to beat Tetsutetsu in their arm wrestling match only to lose to Hitoshi when he forgets about Hitoshi’s quirk and answers his question. Izuku hoots a laugh at that, but that’s the most he reacts.
Kendo manages to beat Kaminari in their own arm wrestling match only to lose to Todoroki when the teen encases her in ice as well, though the glacier is much smaller than Sero’s was. No doubt the teen is reaching his stamina limit.
Bakugō takes out Tokoyami quickly, the explosive teen’s quirk a bad matchup to the shadowed quirk. Hitoshi ends up losing to Todoroki, the duel-quirked teen refusing to respond and ends up freezing Hitoshi as well, though this glacier is even smaller than Kendo’s.
Bakugō and Todoroki’s fight is a bit anticlimactic. Todoroki is barely standing as his body suffers from hypothermia and quirk exhaustion. Bakugō is exhausted as well, but not to the extreme that Todoroki is and it shows in his attacks. In the end, Todoroki is knocked out of the ring by a wide right hook with the force of an explosion behind it.
The crowd cheers, but Izuku can see Bakugō’s anger at Todoroki lackluster fight. No doubt he wanted to prove himself the better fighter and wasn’t satisfied by the fight. The blonde storms off angrily as Todoroki is carted off to Recovery Girl.
By the time All Might hands out the medals, Todoroki still isn’t back from Recovery Girl so they continue the ceremony without him. Izuku feels pride as Hitoshi accepts the third place medal with Tokoyami. Bakugō begrudgingly accepts the gold medal, and the silver medal is held for Todoroki to accept once he wakes up.
Izuku notices how Endeavor isn’t even in the stands anymore. The festival ends with much less fanfare as people start to leave the stadium. Izuku follows behind Aizawa and Yamada as they aim for the main building, putting up his invisibility again until they reach the corridors of the main building.
He finds Hitoshi grinning widely in 1-A’s classroom, staring at his bronze medal. “Congratulations,” Izuku signs and Hitoshi grins brighter. Izuku sticks close to Hitoshi as Aizawa goes over their performance in the festival and telling them that he’ll give detailed evaluations next week, along with Keigo before he dismisses them with a nod and a congratulations to those that are there who won.
The two of them aim for the teacher’s lounge, Izuku silently listening to Hitoshi talk about some of the stuff he missed in the waiting rooms: like Todoroki declaring he’d beat Hitoshi for some reason, which he did, or the way Uraraka had kept Hitoshi from having a panic attack before his first match using her cheerful personality and very persuasive threats of bodily harm if he didn’t pull himself together.
They find Keigo lounging on one of the couches and quickly take the spots on either side of him. “Fledglings,” he says cheerfully. “Congratulations, Hitoshi. I know you gave it your all,” he adds, sending the brainwasher a proud look that has the teen ducking his head as he turns a little pink in the cheek in embarrassment, though he looks pleased.
Izuku just presses against Keigo. “Chick,” Keigo murmurs, noticing Izuku’s silence and Izuku glances at him. “Everything okay?” he asks quietly, Hitoshi glancing at Izuku as well. Izuku shrugs, not really sure what he’s feeling right now. “Wanna talk about it?” Keigo asks and Izuku shakes his head. “Okay. You know you can come to me or Hitoshi if you need someone to talk to, okay?” Izuku nods and lets Keigo pull him into a side hug.
They wait around for a bit, letting the majority of the crowd disperse before heading home. Thankfully a majority of the press are long gone from the outer perimeter of the campus, so they leave through the teacher’s entrance and take to the air for home.
~*~
Izuku is distracted and Keigo isn’t sure why. Something obviously happened at the festival that affected the winged teen, but he hasn’t talked about it with Keigo. The rest of the weekend, Izuku has been quiet, often found perched on a window seat looking out of a window or staring into space.
He asks Hitoshi if he noticed anything, but the boy doesn’t know what happened. He was fine when he came to see them before the fights started. When he sends a text to Aizawa and Yamada asking if they noticed anything that might have upset Izuku and they mention he came back silent after the Todoroki and Sero fight.
When he sends an enquiry to Nedzu, knowing the rodent’s love of hidden camera, the mammal in unable to find anything that would have upset him, though he will admit that Izuku’s invisibility makes that hard to determine as he could have been anywhere and the cameras wouldn’t have picked him up.
Very rarely does Keigo feel frustration about Izuku’s quirk, but right now he is. It’s the one drawback to keeping track of his chick. The teen could go anywhere and no one would be the wiser about it. Letting out a frustrated sigh, Keigo runs a quick hand through his hair and decides to just let it be. If Izuku needs help, he’ll come to Keigo. He just needs to be patient.
~*~
Izuku spends the rest of the weekend pondering just what to do. He wants to tell Keigo, but this isn’t his secret to tell, not without Todoroki’s consent at least. Izuku refuses to take that choice away from him when it’s obvious he has very little freedom in his life right now.
Part of him weighs what to do though about approaching Todoroki. He needs to talk with the other teen, to at least tell him he overheard their conversation. Maybe see if he can convince him that using his fire isn’t giving in to Endeavor’s demands. If anything, his fight with Bakugō proves his point. If he’d just used his fire, he wouldn’t have been so bogged down by the hypothermia his quirk caused. He might have even won the match.
But on the other side, should he try to convince him? Izuku knows what it’s like to defy orders and refuse to give in to demands, even under threat of punishment and physical pain. Should he convince the teen to use his fire despite what is probably happening at his home?
Izuku needs more information before he can make a decision. He decides to approach Todoroki later, before the hero students go on their internships. Plan in mind, he arrives with Keigo and Hitoshi to school the Monday after the Festival ready to talk with Todoroki.
Unfortunately, he’s busy with 1-B that day, as well as helping Yamada with one of his second year JSL classes, so he doesn’t get the chance to approach the teen at all that day and by the time he’s free after classes end, Todoroki has already left campus. So he’s forced to go home with his plan left unfinished.
Tuesday rolls around and Izuku finds himself helping 1-A on one of their long days of fundamental heroics. True to his word, now that the Festival is passed, Keigo announces their starting Battle Trials and simulations. Now that they all have their hero names, or most of them, and a list of their offered or given internships, Keigo wants to get in some last minute training before everyone goes off for the week to their internships.
Izuku spends the afternoon watching the teams of five try and infiltrate a compromised building full of ‘villains’ without sounding an alarm. The building is rigged with cameras, sensors and robots put on a specific track of movement to simulate people patrolling. Each team is given a blueprint of the building and an estimate of how many villains are in the building. By the end of the thirty minutes, they need to know exactly how many villains are in there, where the hostage is located, and who the ‘leader’ is. Then they need to come up with a plan to infiltrate. Keigo gives tips when he needs to, All Might absent that day due to a doctor’s appointment.
Most, as expected, grumble about doing intelligence work, but Keigo reminds them that sometimes heroes will go in blind to a situation without someone with a quirk to aid them. Being able to aptly assess the situation before bursting in can save lives and limit the amount of damage done. If they get all the info and come up with a plan before the time limit, they’re allowed to execute their plan.
As Izuku expects, all the plans fail. Most of the plans fail because of a lack of communication between team members, or a misunderstanding of part of the plan. Some are from mistakes, mistiming a move and setting off an alarm or alerting a ‘villain’. The plans, for the most part, are sound, they just need some work.
When a few complain about how hard this is and that it’s not realistic, the others go silent. Keigo turns to Izuku, arching a brow, letting him make the decision to demonstrate or not. Izuku considers it and finally nods, agreeing to demonstrate, disappearing, though he has a com in is ear to continue to listen to Keigo as he heads for the building opposite this one.
“You seem to be under a false assumption that anything you encounter as a hero will be easy. Life is full of surprises and if you don’t expect the worst to happen, people will die on your watch. Expect the unexpected. There are five of you on a team and you couldn’t complete the mission and your hostage was ‘killed’ as a result. You won’t always have so many to help you. You won’t always have a quirk on hand that can help you. If this is too hard, then perhaps you are in the wrong class. My job is not to be easy on you; it’s not to give you false assumptions. It’s to show you the reality of this line of work. Being a hero is hard work, it’s exhausting, it’s stressful and it can get you and others killed if you don’t prepare appropriately,” Keigo points out harshly, the entire class silent.
Izuku slips into the building as Keigo talks and slowly works his way to where the ‘hostage’ is located, avoiding the ‘villains’ and moving around the traps placed. He finds the dummy wrapped in rope in the middle of the room. He leaves the ropes tied and hefts them over his shoulder, spreading his wings slightly to balance better and spreads his invisibility out further to cover the dummy before making his way back towards the observation room.
Keigo’s just finished his speech when Izuku steps back inside. Dropping his invisibility, Izuku lets out a loud hoot and drops the dummy on the ground behind the class, the group jumping in surprise and turning to see him standing there. “If five of you couldn’t, how can one person do it?” Keigo asks.
“But sensei, he’s got extensive training,” Hagakure calls out.
“Exactly, training,” Keigo reminds them. “This might seem hard now, but eventually, you will learn how to do this. Complaining that it’s hard won’t make it any easier. You need to work yourself harder than you possibly can and go further to be a hero. From now on, we will be doing exercises like this. They will be pulled from real life events, from missions and cases and you will need to find your own ways to solve them. We won’t go easy on you just because you’re first years. Is that understood?” Keigo calls out.
“Yes sensei,” the class answers.
“Good, you will have a homework assignment over your internships,” he adds. “You will be working with your internship instructors throughout the week. While you won’t be working on any cases in any heroic capacity, being unlicensed students, you will be helping in other ways, should a case come up. I want you to observe your instructor and anyone else at their agency. Watch how they work together and apart, how they work to help people. When you come back, I want a three page paper on you breaking down how they work cases and help people. How they interact with the populace and reassure people in distress. This can be anywhere from helping a lost child to handling a major case like a hostage situation. No job is too small for a hero. These will be due by the Friday after your return,” Keigo warns and the class groans, but nods before Keigo dismisses them for the day.
Izuku helps Keigo gather the rest of the hostage dummies while the robots simply are ordered back to their holding rooms now that they’re not needed. By the time they get back to the main building, most of the class is already back in 1-A gathering up their stuff after changing out of their costumes.
Izuku stays outside the classroom while Aizawa gives end of the day announcements and reminders to turn in their internship forms before the week’s end. Izuku goes invisible and waits while the class streams out and he starts to follow Todoroki. The class quickly breaks apart into friend groups, pairs or singles as they go separate ways, some to other areas on campus or towards the main exit off campus.
Todoroki is one of the singles, the teen staying apart from the others despite the few attempts by his classmates to join them in study groups or get him to join a conversation. Izuku waits until Todoroki is by himself, on his way towards the exit when he lets his invisibility drop and chirps loudly behind the teen, keeping some distance between them to no look like he was following him.
Todoroki looks back and blinks at him in surprise. Izuku waves sheepishly. He goes to sign and then realizes he doesn’t know if Todoroki knows JSL so instead pulls the notebook he keeps on him with a pen to quickly write out his request. Can I talk with you for a moment?
Todoroki arches a brow at his request, but nods. “Over there,” Todoroki murmurs and Izuku follows him to a strand of trees, a bench beneath their limbs. They both sit and silence descends over them. “What did you want to talk about?” Todoroki asks evenly.
Izuku frowns, not sure how to broach the topic before he finally pulls out his notebook again and writes, I overheard your conversation with Endeavor after your fight with Sero-kun.
Todoroki reads his words. “Ah,” he murmurs. “You have questions then.”
Izuku nods, but he can’t bring himself to put pen to paper. This is such a personal thing and he’s not sure how to phrase it without being rude or insensitive. Todoroki beats him to it though. “You want to know what’s really going on at home.”
You don’t have to tell me anything, Izuku quickly writes out. It’s just…the things he said to you…are you safe?
Todoroki actually looks surprised by the last part of his sentence, like the idea of someone worrying about his safety at home is shocking. “Why are you concerned?” Todoroki asks.
Izuku frowns at him. He spends a few minutes writing out his response, crossing things out a few times before he thrusts it at Todoroki hurriedly. Because you’re not some object for him to do with as he pleases. And being the number two hero does not excuse what he’s doing. No one deserves to be treated like that. If he’s hurting you, then someone needs to bring it to light. He’s not the first person to use their status to hide their actions. You deserve for your voice to be heard.
Todoroki takes a few seconds to read what he wrote and then looks up to stare at Izuku. “Do you know what a quirk marriage is?” Todoroki asks softly. Izuku feels his heart stutter at that one sentence, mind already putting the pieces together and getting most of the picture. Izuku nods slowly. “He bought my mother to create a legacy that wouldn’t have his weakness. I’m the result,” Todoroki explains softly, hands fisting on his lap as he glares at the ground.
Izuku reaches out a hand to gently touch Todoroki’s fist. Todoroki glances up at him. “I’m sorry,” Izuku mouths out. Pulling his hand back, Izuku grabs his notebook and writes out: He’s why you won’t use your fire.
“I refuse to use anything associated with him. I’m going to be a hero using my mother’s quirk,” Todoroki explains softly.
Izuku frowns, considering Todoroki’s words. He quickly writes out, He wants you to be like him, mainly using your fire, but using your ice to regulate your temperature better. Why not do the opposite? Use your ice, but only use your fire to regulate your temperature. Sticking to ice will only hurt you in the long run. Your body is made to use both and by only using one you could cause physical damage to your body. It happened at the festival when your ice started to give you hypothermia. Your fire quirk doesn’t need to be big and flashy. It would be really good for rescue heroics to keep people warm without the threat of being burned by an open flame since you can heat the air around you by raising your own body temperature. Fire doesn’t have to hurt.
Todoroki reads the paragraph Izuku thrusts at him. “I hadn’t considered that,” he admits with a thoughtful look. “I was so focused on denying him.”
Sometimes the only thing we can do is deny them to keep from losing ourselves, Izuku writes out with a grimace.
Todoroki nods, “I’ll consider it.”
Izuku smiles softly before quickly writing out his next thought, Can I tell Hawks or do you want to keep this quiet?
Todoroki frowns. “Why would you tell him?” he asks.
Because he can do something about it! What Endeavor is doing is wrong, unethical and against everything it means to be a hero. At minimum, he deserves to lose his license. Domestic abuse is not excusable by having a hero’s license, Izuku writes quickly, thrusting it at Todoroki.
“Can I think about it?” Todoroki asks softly, seeming shaken and troubles by Izuku’s words. Izuku nods quickly, chirping in agreement. Todoroki nods and stands up from the bench. “I need to get going. I’ll see you around,” he adds.
Izuku waves in farewell, staying where he’s at on the bench as he watches Todoroki head for the exit from campus. Once the teen is out of sight, Izuku stands. He feels a small tug on the necklace around his neck and follows it towards the main building.
He finds Keigo leaned up against a wall, out of sight of the bench they had taken to talk privately. “Hey chick,” Keigo murmurs and opens his arms to let Izuku burrow into them. “So this is what’s had you out of source, huh,” he adds and Izuku nods against his chest. “I’ll need to bring this to Nedzu,” Keigo murmurs.
Izuku pulls back, chirping his promise to Keigo. “We won’t be able to go anywhere without Todoroki’s statement either way, but we can start looking into things. It takes time to build enough of a case to be effective,” Keigo admits. He runs a hand through Izuku’s curls. “How are you?” he asks softly.
“Okay,” Izuku signs with a frown. “Sad, angry…frustrated,” he signs stiltedly.
“I’m sure. Let’s head home. There’s nothing else we can do right now. You’ve gotten the ball rolling. Now it’s up to him to decide,” Keigo says, hooking an arm around Izuku’s shoulders and starts to guide him towards the teacher’s lounge. “Let’s get Hitoshi and we’ll head home to relax.” Izuku nods silently.
Hitoshi sends Izuku a worried look, but Keigo quietly reassures him that everything is fine. They fly home and settle in the nest, cuddling and watching mindless TV to distract from thoughts. If Izuku ends up in Keigo’s bed that night, the man doesn’t comment on it, simply letting Izuku seek comfort where he can.